Its a bit like being in a different country. Everyone I walk past seems to be speaking a foreign language or is speaking English with an accent. We've had Greek, Indian, Italian, American, Chinese and Mediteranean, food in the last 5 days (in addition Alex has had Thai and Hawaiian). One difference from other countries that I'm thankful for is, the waiters bring tap water to your table.

At dinner tonight I got a call letting me know that I got the job. And when we got home there was a message about a different job. I think I'll just take the one I have. That way no more interviews, I could work for a month and have the last month I'm here off. Still, I think I'll call the other people and see if the hours are better than 3-9pm every night.

Whenever I leave our building, I am constantly on edge about where my purse is. Making sure it is tucked tightly under my arm where no one can reach into the back of it and steal anything. Not only that, but I'm also paranoid about looking like a tourist (I don't want to be more of a target). I do my best to know exactly where I'm going, as if I walk that route everyday. I won't look at my map on the street. If I need to figure out where to go, I duck into a cafe or store. Sometimes I'll look at it while I'm sitting on the subway, if it's not crowded. But, feeling this way makes for high stress walks.

Today, I went into Manhattan without Alex, in search of the Garment District. I made a couple wrong turns and pretty much made a really big circle around where I wanted to go, just missing it everytime.

Nevertheless, I stumbled upon a few things that made my journey worth it. I found 5th Avenue (as in Saks). I walked past the "Avenue of the Americas" twice. I found J.Crew! I walked past Radio City Muisc Hall, NBC Studios: Rainbow Room and Rockefeller Center. They're on side streets - weird.

I was whistled at twice today. That's a new experience. I helped a guy on subway get to where he was going. He said "You must not be a New Yorker, they never smile when I talk to them on the train."

Julie G: Remember how 'in' pink dress shirts were in England two years ago? They are everywhere in New York now. There was even a pink tshirt yesterday that said "Quit laughing, this is your girlfriend's shirt."

In the end I came home sans garments, but with lots of wonderful images in my head.
Julie @ 6:11 PM Permalink |